DOERS OF THE WORD, NOT HEARERS ONLY
Have We Become So Accustomed to Hearing the Voice of the Shepherd That We Have Forgotten to Follow Him?
An Apostolic and Prophetic Teaching by Peter Nash
There is something weighing heavily upon my heart today, and I believe it is something the Church of Jesus Christ must urgently confront if we are ever going to become the people God has called us to be.
It is not a new revelation. It is not a hidden mystery requiring some extraordinary spiritual interpretation. It is a command of God that has been sitting before our eyes for centuries. Yet I wonder whether we have become so accustomed to hearing it that we have forgotten what it actually requires of us.
We have become very good at hearing the Word of God, but have we become equally committed to doing what the Word of God commands?
I am not writing this as someone standing above the Church, pointing an accusing finger at everyone else. I am writing as a man who has spent much of his life ministering the Gospel, preaching the Word, teaching believers, raising leaders, and calling people into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
And perhaps more importantly, I am writing as someone who must continually bring his own life before the searching light of the Holy Spirit.
Because I am convinced of something that should cause every one of us to examine our hearts.
God never intended His Word merely to inform us. He intended His Word to transform us.
And transformation is not measured by how many sermons we have attended, how many conferences we have participated in, how much Scripture we can quote, or how deeply we were emotionally moved during a powerful ministry time.
Transformation is revealed in what happens when we leave those meetings and begin living what we have heard.
That is where Christianity becomes more than a religious experience.
That is where discipleship becomes visible.
That is where the Word becomes flesh in the practical expression of our lives—not as another incarnation of Christ, but as His character and truth become evident in those who belong to Him.
And that is where I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us today.
THE COMMAND WE HAVE LEARNED TO IGNORE
James 1:22 declares:
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
I want us to examine that statement carefully.
James is not offering a suggestion.
He is not describing an optional level of Christian maturity reserved for particularly dedicated believers.
He is giving a direct command.
BE DOERS OF THE WORD!
Not merely admirers of the Word.
Not merely students of the Word.
Not collectors of sermons, spiritual experiences, theological information, or prophetic declarations.
Be doers!
And then James says something that I believe should deeply disturb the comfortable condition of much of the modern Church.
He says that when we hear the Word without doing it, we deceive ourselves.
Think about that!
We can sit under anointed preaching, agree with everything being said, experience conviction, become emotionally stirred, and even convince ourselves that we have grown spiritually simply because of what we have heard.
Yet according to James, if our hearing never produces obedience, we may actually be deceiving ourselves about our spiritual condition.
That is an incredibly sobering statement.
We may believe we are progressing spiritually when, in reality, we are simply accumulating information that we have never allowed to change our lives.
And I find myself asking a question that reaches beyond everyone reading this teaching and penetrates my own heart.
How much of the Word of God have I heard, preached, taught, and understood that I have not yet fully obeyed?
ALMOST 1,200 SERMONS — BUT HOW MUCH TRANSFORMATION?
Over the course of my ministerial career, I have preached almost 1,200 sermons.
I believe that many of those messages were inspired and directed by the Holy Spirit for the people and circumstances into which I was ministering.
I have watched people respond at altars.
I have seen tears streaming down faces.
I have witnessed individuals profoundly touched during moments of prayer and ministry.
And I have heard countless expressions of appreciation from people who approached me afterward and said, “Peter, that was such a powerful message today.”
I am genuinely thankful when someone has been touched by the Word of God.
But increasingly, I find myself asking a much deeper question.
What happened afterward?
What happened on Monday morning?
What happened when that person returned home to their marriage, their children, their workplace, their relationships, or the challenges they were facing?
Did the Word they heard become the Word they obeyed?
Did the conviction they experienced become repentance?
Did the revelation they received become practical obedience?
Did the tears they shed become lasting transformation?
Or did the message simply become another powerful spiritual experience that gradually faded until the following Sunday?
I cannot know the full answer. Only God knows the heart and the lasting fruit of His Word.
But I must ask the question.
And I must turn that same question toward myself.
How many times have I preached something that the Holy Spirit was simultaneously asking me to walk in more completely?
How many times have I encouraged others to demonstrate Christlike love while discovering areas within my own heart where that same love needed to grow?
How many times have I preached faith, surrender, humility, forgiveness, and obedience, only to find the Lord bringing me into circumstances where those very truths would be tested?
I am discovering that the greatest sermon I will ever preach is not necessarily the one delivered from a pulpit.
It is the life I live when there is no pulpit, no microphone, no congregation, and no applause.
HAVE WE BECOME SELECTIVE ABOUT WHICH COMMANDMENTS WE OBEY?
There is another dimension to this teaching that I believe we must confront.
We speak so frequently about the Ten Commandments.
And rightly so.
They reveal profound truths concerning the holiness of God, our responsibility toward Him, and our moral obligations toward one another.
But I want to ask a question.
What about all the other commandments contained within the Word of God?
What about the commandments that were not carried down from Mount Sinai on tablets of stone?
What about the commandments spoken by Jesus Christ Himself?
What about the instructions given to the Church through the apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit?
Have we somehow decided that the commandments written on stone deserve our attention while the commandments given to believers in the New Testament can be treated as optional?
Now I understand that the Ten Commandments occupy a distinctive place within the covenant God established with Israel.
I also understand that we must interpret Scripture faithfully, recognizing the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant established through Jesus Christ.
Not every command given to ancient Israel applies to believers today in precisely the same way.
But that distinction does not diminish the authority of the commands Christ has given His Church.
And James 1:22 is one of those commands.
Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only!
Why do we stress the importance of obedience to some commandments while appearing to neglect the commandment that requires us to put God’s Word into practice?
Jesus commands us to love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34).
He commands us to make disciples and teach them to observe everything He has commanded (Matthew 28:19–20).
He teaches us to forgive others (Mark 11:25).
Through the apostolic Scriptures, we are commanded to bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11), and love not merely in words but in deeds and truth (1 John 3:18).
And James commands us to become doers of the Word.
Are these commands somehow unimportant because they were not written upon the tablets Moses received?
Absolutely not!
The commands of Christ and the inspired apostolic instructions given to His Church carry divine authority.
Yet I wonder whether we have become selective in our obedience.
We embrace the commandments that affirm our existing convictions while quietly avoiding those that confront our personal preferences.
We emphasize the importance of biblical morality while sometimes neglecting the practical demands of biblical love.
We can speak passionately about obedience to God while resisting the very things He has already instructed us to do.
And that brings me to a deeply personal question.
Am I willing to obey the Word of God only when it agrees with what I already want to do?
Because if I am choosing which commands deserve my obedience, then I am allowing my own will to determine the boundaries of God’s authority in my life.
And that is not surrender.
That is control.
Jesus said in John 14:15:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Notice how closely Jesus connects love with obedience.
He did not say that the evidence of our love would simply be the number of worship services we attended or the amount of biblical knowledge we accumulated.
He connected love with obedience.
And I must ask myself:
Do I love the Word of God enough to obey it, or do I merely love hearing it preached?
Perhaps we have become more concerned with identifying the disobedience of the world than confronting the disobedience within our own hearts.
And perhaps that is why this message needs to begin with me.
Lord, search my heart.
Am I truly surrendered to Your Word?
Or have I learned how to celebrate Your commandments without consistently walking in them?
WHERE TRULY ARE OUR HEARTS?
DO YOU KNOW THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD?
There is another question burning within my spirit, and I believe it takes us even deeper into the heart of genuine discipleship.
Have we forgotten that Jesus said His sheep would hear His voice?
In John 10:27, Jesus makes this extraordinary declaration:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
I want you to notice something incredibly important about those words.
Jesus did not simply say, “My sheep hear My voice.”
He continued:
“And they follow Me.”
There is an inseparable relationship between recognizing the voice of the Shepherd and responding to His leadership.
The sheep do not merely admire the sound of His voice.
They follow Him.
And that brings me to a question that I believe the Church must courageously confront.
Do we truly know the voice of the Shepherd, or have we become more familiar with the voices of those who preach about Him?
We recognize the voice of our favourite preacher.
We recognize the voice of our pastor.
We recognize the voice of a well-known apostle, prophet, evangelist, or teacher.
We spend countless hours listening to sermons, teachings, podcasts, and prophetic messages.
But in the midst of all those voices, have we cultivated a living relationship with Jesus Christ in which we recognize His truth, discern His leading, and respond to His direction?
And perhaps more importantly, when we recognize what He is saying, are we willing to obey?
Because the voice of the Shepherd is not simply given to comfort us.
His voice directs us.
His voice corrects us.
His voice calls us away from danger.
His voice leads us into righteousness.
His voice summons us into a deeper life of surrender.
And sometimes His voice confronts the very things we have been determined to hold on to.
Now I want to be careful here.
Knowing the voice of the Shepherd does not mean every believer must hear an audible voice or receive extraordinary supernatural revelations.
We recognize the Shepherd through His revealed Word, His character, and the faithful ministry of the Holy Spirit. We must also test spiritual impressions rather than assume every thought or feeling comes from God (1 John 4:1).
But this makes our responsibility even greater.
If Jesus has already spoken clearly through His Word, why are we waiting for another personal revelation before we obey Him?
Why do we need a prophetic word to encourage someone when Scripture has already commanded us to encourage one another?
Why do we need another confirmation to forgive when Jesus has already instructed us to forgive?
Why must we continually seek another spiritual experience before demonstrating the compassion Christ has already commanded?
Could it be that sometimes we are not waiting for God to speak?
Could it be that God has already spoken, and we are simply postponing our obedience?
Hebrews 3:15 warns us not to harden our hearts when we hear His voice.
There is a danger in repeatedly hearing truth without responding.
Our hearts can become accustomed to conviction without surrender.
We can become familiar with the language of obedience while continuing to live in disobedience.
And eventually, the very Word that should have transformed us becomes something we have learned to hear without allowing it to change us.
What a tragic condition for anyone who professes to follow Jesus Christ!
I do not want that condition in my life.
I want to remain teachable.
I want to remain sensitive.
I want to remain surrendered.
I want to recognize the voice of the Shepherd and follow Him.
Not merely when it is convenient.
Not merely when obedience costs me nothing.
But because He is my Shepherd, and I belong to Him.
THE SHEPHERD IS NOT MERELY CALLING US TO LISTEN. HE IS CALLING US TO FOLLOW.
HAVE WE CREATED A CHURCH OF SPECTATORS?
There is another aspect of this message that deeply concerns me.
I believe much of the modern Church has developed a culture that was never intended to become the normal expression of New Testament Christianity.
We have created environments where a relatively small number of people are trained, equipped, and actively engaged in ministry, while the majority attend meetings, listen to sermons, receive encouragement, and return home until the next gathering.
The few minister.
The many observe.
The few exercise their gifts.
The many watch those gifts being exercised.
The few carry the visible responsibilities of ministry.
The many become accustomed to receiving ministry without understanding that they themselves have been called to participate in the work of Christ.
Now I am not suggesting that every congregation functions this way, nor am I suggesting that every believer has the same calling, gift, responsibility, or authority.
Scripture clearly teaches that the Body of Christ contains different members with different functions.
But it also teaches that every member has a place and a contribution to make.
In Ephesians 4:11–12, Paul explains that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry and the building up of the Body of Christ.
Consider the implications!
The fivefold ministry was never intended to become a spiritual performance team ministering indefinitely to a passive audience.
Its responsibility includes equipping the saints so that the saints themselves become active participants in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
We are not called merely to gather people around gifted ministers.
We are called to help believers mature into the likeness of Christ, discover their God-given functions, and faithfully serve within His Body.
I believe we must recover this apostolic understanding of the Church.
The Church is not a building filled with spectators watching a few people demonstrate Christianity.
The Church is a living Body in which every member is called to grow, serve, love, obey, and contribute according to the grace God has given.
And I must ask myself as a minister:
Have I merely inspired people, or have I genuinely equipped them?
Have I helped believers discover their gifts?
Have I encouraged them to respond to the Holy Spirit?
Have I demonstrated what it means to live the Word rather than merely preach it?
Have I made room for others to grow into their God-given responsibilities?
Because the measure of effective ministry cannot simply be how many people gather to hear us preach.
It must also include whether those people are becoming spiritually mature, rooted in Christ, growing in love, and equipped to serve.
WHEN JESUS SAYS GO, WHY DO WE REMAIN SEATED?
This is where the teaching becomes intensely practical.
When Scripture directs us to pray for the sick, why do we so often hesitate to pray?
James 5:14–16 gives us instruction concerning prayer for the sick, including the ministry of the elders and the prayers of believers.
We see throughout the ministry of Jesus and the early Church that compassion was never intended to remain merely a feeling.
Compassion moved people toward the needs of others.
If someone is suffering and I have an opportunity to pray, why should I be more concerned about whether I might feel uncomfortable than about expressing the love of Christ?
I cannot manufacture a miracle. The outcome belongs to God.
But I can offer prayer in faith, humility, and compassion.
When I encounter someone who is discouraged, why do I sometimes remain silent when a few words of encouragement could help lift their spirit?
When I know someone is struggling financially and God has given me the ability to help, why should I be content merely to say, “I will pray for you,” if the Lord is also leading me to provide something practical?
When I see someone isolated, wounded, or rejected, why do I sometimes wait for someone else to demonstrate the love of Christ?
These are not complicated theological questions.
They are questions of obedience.
And I believe the Holy Spirit is confronting us with something very simple.
STOP WAITING FOR ANOTHER SERMON TO TELL YOU TO DO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD HAS ALREADY INSTRUCTED YOU TO DO!
Perhaps the next great step in our spiritual growth is not another extraordinary revelation.
Perhaps it is obeying the revelation we have already received through God’s Word.
Perhaps it is making the telephone call we have been postponing.
Perhaps it is apologizing to someone we have wounded.
Perhaps it is forgiving the person toward whom we have been carrying resentment.
Perhaps it is visiting someone who is lonely.
Perhaps it is spending time with a struggling believer who needs encouragement.
Perhaps it is humbling ourselves in a relationship where pride has been allowed to rule.
And perhaps it is simply doing what Jesus has already told us to do.
THE HOUSE THAT LOOKED STRONG UNTIL THE STORM CAME
In Matthew 7:24–27, Jesus describes two men who built houses.
One built upon the rock, while the other built upon the sand.
Both men heard His words.
That is important.
The distinction was not that one man attended the teaching and the other never heard it.
Both heard.
But one acted upon what he heard, while the other did not.
When the storms came, the difference became unmistakable.
The house founded upon the rock stood, while the house built upon the sand fell.
I wonder how many believers have confused hearing the right teaching with building upon the right foundation.
We can possess an impressive theological vocabulary and still have areas of our lives that have never been surrendered to the obedience of Christ.
We can understand the doctrine of forgiveness and still refuse to forgive.
We can understand the importance of prayer and still neglect communion with the Father.
We can teach about sacrificial love while refusing to inconvenience ourselves for someone who needs help.
The storm does not merely reveal what we know.
It reveals what we have built.
And the foundation of spiritual maturity is not knowledge alone.
It is hearing the words of Christ and putting them into practice.
Jesus asked in Luke 6:46:
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
What a question!
We call Him Lord.
We worship Him as Lord.
We sing songs declaring His lordship.
Yet if we continually resist what He commands, what are we communicating about the actual authority He possesses in our lives?
A lord is not merely someone whose words we admire.
A lord is someone whose authority we recognize and whose instructions we obey.
The lordship of Jesus Christ cannot remain a theological declaration that never becomes practical surrender.
AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IS NOT ALWAYS A TRANSFORMED LIFE
I want to return to something I have witnessed repeatedly throughout my years of ministry.
People can be profoundly moved during a service.
They can weep.
They can kneel at the altar.
They can experience genuine conviction, comfort, healing, and encouragement through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
I do not minimize those moments.
I cherish them.
But an emotional response, however genuine, is not the whole journey of transformation.
The real question is what we do with what God has revealed.
If the Holy Spirit convicts me of pride, the response must eventually become humility.
If He confronts bitterness within my heart, the response must become forgiveness.
If He exposes selfishness, the response must become love and generosity.
If He reveals an area of disobedience, the response must become repentance and a changed direction.
Tears can accompany repentance, but tears alone do not replace it.
Conviction is intended to lead us toward transformation.
And I believe we need to recover something within our churches that has become far too uncommon.
We need to stop measuring the success of a service primarily by how powerfully people responded in the moment and begin asking whether the Word is producing lasting fruit in their lives.
Did relationships change?
Did forgiveness take place?
Did people begin serving?
Did the hurting receive practical care?
Did believers begin exercising their gifts?
Did those who heard the Word begin walking in it?
Because the ultimate purpose of ministry is not to make people dependent upon the next powerful meeting.
It is to help them become mature, obedient disciples of Jesus Christ.
FAITH THAT NEVER PRODUCES OBEDIENCE MUST BE EXAMINED
James 2:17 declares:
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
This does not mean we earn salvation through our own efforts.
Ephesians 2:8–10 makes it wonderfully clear that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works, and that we are created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Our obedience does not purchase the grace of God.
Our obedience is the fruit of the grace of God working within us.
That distinction is essential.
I am not calling the Church into religious striving, performance, or the impossible burden of attempting to make ourselves acceptable to God through human effort.
I am calling us into yielded obedience through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Philippians 2:13 reminds us that God works within us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.
We are not left to manufacture spiritual maturity by ourselves.
The Holy Spirit empowers us to become what we could never become through self-effort.
But we must yield.
We must respond.
We must cooperate with the work of grace.
And when He convicts us, we must not repeatedly silence that conviction by returning to the comfort of spiritual passivity.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE WHOLE CHURCH BEGAN DOING?
I sometimes wonder what would happen if every believer in a congregation decided to respond to the Word of God with practical obedience.
Imagine a church where people did not wait for the pastor to visit every struggling family because the members themselves were caring for one another.
Imagine believers who prayed for the sick with compassion and faith rather than assuming that only specially gifted ministers could pray.
Imagine brothers and sisters who encouraged one another, carried one another’s burdens, welcomed strangers, supported the vulnerable, and demonstrated the love of Jesus outside the walls of the church building.
Imagine a congregation where forgiveness replaced bitterness, generosity replaced selfishness, humility replaced competition, and service replaced the desire for recognition.
Imagine believers who were not seeking to be noticed but were simply determined to be faithful.
This is not a fantasy.
These are characteristics consistent with the life of the Church described in the New Testament.
Acts 2:42–47 describes believers devoted to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer, while sharing with those who had needs.
The early Church was certainly not perfect, as the rest of Acts and the apostolic letters make clear.
But its life was never intended to be reduced to passive attendance at religious meetings.
The Word was shaping a community.
Their faith was becoming visible.
Their love was becoming practical.
And I believe the Holy Spirit is still calling the Church toward that kind of life.
THE PROPHETIC CRY: IT IS TIME TO RISE AND OBEY
As I prayerfully consider the condition of the Church, I sense an urgency in my spirit.
Not an urgency to condemn God’s people, but an urgency to awaken us.
I believe the Lord is calling His people beyond comfortable Christianity into a deeper expression of surrendered discipleship.
We have heard enough sermons to know that we are called to love.
Now let us love!
We have heard enough teaching about forgiveness to know that bitterness must be surrendered.
Now let us forgive!
We have heard enough messages about compassion to understand that the suffering around us matter.
Now let us demonstrate compassion!
We have heard enough preaching about faith to know that faith must be accompanied by obedience.
Now let us act upon what God has spoken!
We have heard enough teaching about the voice of the Shepherd to know that His sheep are called to follow Him.
Now let us follow!
The Church does not merely need more people who can explain the Word.
It needs people whose lives visibly demonstrate the Word.
And I believe the Holy Spirit is confronting us with an uncomfortable question.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE ALREADY HEARD?
Not what did you feel?
Not how much did you enjoy the sermon?
Not whether you agreed with the preacher?
Not whether you thought the message was powerful?
But what are you doing with the truth that has been entrusted to you?
THE CROSS CALLS US FORWARD, NOT INTO CONDEMNATION
I know this is a hard message.
It is hard for me to write because I cannot separate myself from its challenge.
I see places in my own life where I want to respond more quickly, love more deeply, surrender more completely, and obey more consistently.
But I refuse to allow this conviction to become condemnation.
Romans 8:1 declares that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When the Holy Spirit exposes an area of disobedience, His purpose is not to drive us away from Christ in hopelessness.
His purpose is to bring us into the light, where repentance, forgiveness, grace, and transformation are found.
And I believe that is where this teaching must take us.
Back to the cross.
Back to surrender.
Back to the place where our own strength is exchanged for dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is not calling us to prove ourselves worthy of His love.
He is calling us to respond to the love we have already received.
And I want that response to become increasingly visible in my own life.
I do not want merely to preach surrender.
I want to live surrendered.
I do not want merely to teach about love.
I want people to encounter the love of Christ through the way I treat them.
I do not want merely to declare that the Holy Spirit empowers believers.
I want to remain available to Him when He calls me to act.
And I do not want to become a man who has preached almost 1,200 sermons but has neglected the very truths he has proclaimed.
I WANT MY LIFE TO BECOME AN INCREASINGLY FAITHFUL EXPRESSION OF THE JESUS I PREACH.
MY PRAYER: LORD, MAKE ME A DOER OF YOUR WORD
Father, I come before You with an open heart.
Search me.
Expose every place where I have become comfortable with hearing without obeying.
Forgive me for the times I have recognized Your truth and delayed my response.
Forgive me for the opportunities to love that I have overlooked, the encouragement I have withheld, the acts of compassion I have postponed, and the moments when my own preferences have become more important than Your will.
Lord Jesus, I do not want to be impressed by Your Word and remain unchanged.
I want Your Word to penetrate the deepest places of my heart.
I want it to shape my thinking, govern my responses, transform my relationships, and direct my actions.
Holy Spirit, empower me to become a consistent doer of the Word.
Not through religious obligation.
Not through self-righteous performance.
Not through the desire to impress others.
But through the overflow of a life genuinely surrendered to Jesus Christ.
And Father, raise up a generation of believers who will not be satisfied merely to hear about the Kingdom of God.
Raise up men and women who will demonstrate the love, humility, holiness, compassion, and obedience of Jesus in their everyday lives.
Restore to Your Church the understanding that every believer has been called to participate in the life and ministry of Christ.
Equip Your people.
Mature Your people.
Awaken Your people.
And begin that work in me.
THE FINAL QUESTION: ARE YOU HEARING THE SHEPHERD OR FOLLOWING HIM?
As I bring this teaching to a close, I want to leave every reader, including myself, with one final challenge.
James 1:23–25 describes the person who hears the Word but does not act upon it as someone who looks into a mirror, walks away, and forgets what he has seen.
But the one who looks into God’s perfect law of liberty, continues in it, and becomes a doer rather than a forgetful hearer is described as blessed in what he does.
There is something profoundly beautiful about that promise.
God is not merely calling us to hear more.
He is inviting us to walk in the freedom and blessing of obedient faith.
And perhaps the greatest turning point in our Christian lives will not come when we hear the next powerful sermon.
Perhaps it will come when we finally begin obeying what God has already spoken.
Perhaps the transformation we have been praying for is waiting on the other side of an act of obedience we have been postponing.
Not because we can force God to act, but because obedience brings our lives into alignment with His revealed will.
So I want to challenge you today.
Do not simply finish reading this teaching and say, “That was a powerful word.”
Do not merely share it with someone else because you believe they need to hear it.
Ask the Holy Spirit what He is calling you to do.
And when He brings that matter before your heart, respond.
If you need to forgive, forgive.
If you need to repent, repent.
If you need to encourage, encourage.
If you need to pray for someone, pray.
If you need to serve, serve.
If you need to surrender something you have been holding back from Christ, surrender it.
Do not wait for a more convenient moment to obey a command that God has already made clear.
And above all, remember what Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” — John 10:27
He did not describe sheep who merely listened.
He described sheep who followed.
And that is what I believe the Church must recover.
Not merely another generation of gifted speakers.
Not merely another generation of enthusiastic listeners.
But a people who have heard the voice of Jesus Christ and have determined, by His grace, to follow Him.
Because the world does not simply need to hear what Christians believe.
It needs to encounter the reality of Jesus Christ expressed through the lives of those who believe Him.
And that is my cry today.
Lord, let my life speak as clearly as my sermons.
Let my obedience become the evidence of my surrender.
Let my love become more than words.
Let me recognize Your voice and respond with a willing heart.
And let the Church once again become a people who not only hear Your Word but faithfully put it into practice.
We have spent centuries discussing the commandments of God.
We have preached them.
We have taught them.
We have defended them.
But perhaps the question confronting us today is whether we are actually living them.
HAVE WE BECOME SO ACCUSTOMED TO HEARING THE WORD THAT WE NO LONGER FEEL THE URGENCY TO OBEY IT?
HAVE WE BECOME SO FAMILIAR WITH SERMONS ABOUT THE SHEPHERD THAT WE HAVE FORGOTTEN OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD HIMSELF?
And when all the preaching is finished, when the worship music has stopped, when the congregation has gone home, and when there is no one left to applaud or affirm us, what will remain?
Will there be a life surrendered to Jesus Christ?
Will there be a heart that has responded to His Word?
Will there be evidence of love, forgiveness, humility, compassion, and obedience?
Because in the end, the issue is not how many sermons we have heard, how much Scripture we can quote, or how deeply we have been moved by spiritual experiences.
The issue is whether the Christ we confess as Lord is increasingly being revealed through the lives we actually live.
STOP MERELY HEARING THE WORD.
START LIVING THE WORD.
STOP MERELY ADMIRING THE SHEPHERD.
FOLLOW THE SHEPHERD.
BECAUSE THE WORD OF GOD WAS NEVER GIVEN MERELY TO FILL OUR MINDS. IT WAS GIVEN TO TRANSFORM OUR LIVES.
And now, the question that remains for every one of us is this:
YOU HAVE HEARD HIS WORD. YOU KNOW WHAT HE HAS COMMANDED. YOU SAY YOU KNOW THE VOICE OF THE SHEPHERD.
SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
⸻
Peter Nash
Fresh Oil and Fire Ministries
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